Downhill

Description

“Ondjongo”. The name of what is also referred to as the dance of happiness. A nomad tribe in the south of Africa called “Himba” practice this dance to praise the ownership of cattle.

The songs they sing praise family lineage. So they also praise the former cattle of one’s ancestors. This is concretized in dance movements, where arms are raised to resemble large-horned animals. In certain cases, a man may crouch on all fours, stamping his feet to raise dust, while the woman dances around him with a light touch on his head to “control” him. Very progressive.

A special illustration by Lance Schmale portays a serene woman priestess based on tribal cultures. The flow and curvature of this graphic just invites dancing.

Length

With its length of 123cm (48.5 inch) the Flamingo provides an excellent balance between the old and new school dancers currently on the market. This bird has a lot of space to fulfill all your board walking needs while still being versatile from a freestyle point of view.

Width

This lean, mean dancing machine has a quite narrow feeling to it. Having a waist of 23cm (9.05 inch) so the board does not tip over when doing some aggressive peter pans or chops. (+4 style points)

Concave

The concave on this board makes it rock steady when you dance either at the waist or at the stance. The shape of the board follows the concave in such a way that when you’re in your peter pan anywhere on the board it feels the same everywhere. Meaning more flow and stability for your fast dancing. The middle is totally flat. For about 8 centimeters of flatness gives this board a nice and responsive flex. Skate it on slow speeds and you get a controllable carve. Get up to some speed and the carve will be tighter and fluid.

Flat-Cave / Tub – Tub concave (more often heard just “tub”) describes a board with a flat center of the pan with the concave starting a set distance before the rails. This keeps feet flatter and in a more natural position, yet still allows for that needed leverage at the toes and heels.

Mechanical properties

Remember the old Flamingo? It didn’t have full bamboo yet. This one does. At these lengths full bamboo means the board will be hella flexy if you don’t reinforce the crap out of it. So we did. Bamboo is lighter, less ‘chippy’ compared to the first series’ wood: birch. It is very bouncy though. We still want it to be flexy just the right way. So with some testing we wound up with a rather complex set-up of 2 different kinds of carbon weaves, and 3 different kinds of glass weaves. Making this board one of the most complex of the series. Features due to the lay-up: • Snappy flex • Three different flex options (Flex, medium and stiff) • Light weight relative to size • Full bamboo all the way, yay • Double carbon fiber reinforced kicks • Two tone wheelwells

Wheelbase

80 to 83 centimeters is loooong. Well, maybe not THAT long. Just long enough to make this a true longboard dancer. Slow and steady carves are the result of this wheelbase length. But wait: you can go even longer! Now featuring the second wheelbase option for the Flamingo. Tip: Start with the outer wheelbase and move up when the kicks wear out.

Flex

Can now be made with 3 flex types. Flexy, medium and stiff. The flex is the right balance between mellow at cruise speed and snappy and active with loose bushings.

Kicks

When the bolts end, it has a few centimeters of flatness. This has multiple advantages: The kick will have a natural feel when you place your foot all the way back, but allows for longer kicks. Longer kicks mean longer life for a freestyle board. Reinforced twice now, with in the top later double carbon. You read that correctly. Also, at the near bottom layer we added even more carbon. This kick will stay solid ‘till the end. Curving upward to a flat surface, this mellow kick is made for steady and high pops.

Imagine a large boulevard with very smooth concrete and the sun is going down. Also, waves are hitting the beach. Now imagine a very drunk guy running right at you at full speed from about 200 meters. The left-to-right swinging he does? That’s how a flamingo skates. But then controllable.

1 review for The Ondjongo Special Edition Flamingo

I’ve been riding a normal board I got from amazon and I can’t believe the difference. It’s so light I barely have to push, the flex is amazing and the size and concave shape makes dancing and carving frankly euphoric!

Also got to say that the team at timber boards were very knowledgeable and helpful to the questions I had, usually responding within the day.

Overall, a fantastic board for longboard dancing I highly recommend and am awesome team at Timber!